U.S. Pat. No. 8,036,788 discloses a system and method for monitoring the condition of a vehicle that includes a communications unit arranged to interface with a wireless communications network, at least one sensor for monitoring at least one component or subsystem of the vehicle and which is coupled to the communications unit, and a remote site connected to the wireless communications network and arranged to receive diagnostic or prognostic messages from the vehicle with the transmission initiated therefrom. A diagnostic module may be provided, included or coupled to the sensor(s) and directs the communications unit to transmit a message to the remote site upon determining an actual and/or potential failure of a component or subsystem.
United States Patent Pub. No. 2010/0256861 discloses a system for monitoring a vehicle's health status. The system comprises a vehicle monitoring computer system configured to receive information associating a cell phone with a vehicle, receive vehicle diagnostic information including vehicle conditions, automatically determine a severity status for the vehicle conditions based on pre-defined severity status values, and if the severity status for any vehicle condition exceeds a pre-defined severity threshold value, automatically transmit a text message to the cellular telephone. Another aspect includes a system for detecting and monitoring a vehicle's health status. The system comprises a vehicle monitoring computer system and a vehicle computer system configured to communicate wirelessly with a cellular telephone located within a vehicle or its vicinity to transmit diagnostic information to a telecommunications network for communication with the vehicle monitoring system.